COMPUTATION OF LIVESTOCK RATIONS

Ration:

– Is the amount of food that will provide essential nutrients to an animal in a 24 hour period.

–  To enable that animal to meet its maintenance and production requirements.

Balanced ration:

–  ls the ration that contains all the essential nutrients in required amounts and in the right proportion.

Maintenance ration:

–  is the portion of a feed required by an animal to continue with the vital body processes with no loss or gain in weight.

Production ration:

–  ls the feed required by animals over and above maintenance ration to enable the animal to produce; > for example; milk, eggs, wool, grow in size, perform work, reproduce and fatten.

Steps in ration formulation

• Finding out the animal’s feed requirement based on body weight.
• List all the available feeds, with their nutrient composition and their prices.
• Calculate the amount of ingredients required in the ration to meet the animals needs.

Methods used in ration formulation

• Trial and error method
• Pearson’s square method
• Graphical method
• Linear programming(use of computers)

Examples;

Mix a Pigs ration 22% protein using soya bean meal 40% DCP and maize meal containing 8%DCP.

Pearson’s square method